Thinking Biblically about love

The modern mind thinks of love in vague, nebulous, existential, and non-definable terms. “It’s something that happens to you,” people say, “not something that you can define.”

This emotional, feeling-oriented, brand of “love” is promoted not only in music and literature, but by the popular media culture. Television promotes the “love as romance/passion” model so relentlessly, that even many Christians are confused about this important subject. In fact, Hollywood has so successfully infiltrated the Church with its view of romantic love , that the person who questions it or attempts to suggest an alternative position is suspect as an unrealistic, unfeeling odd-ball, if he is even understood. I am aware of that risk as I write. As I proceed to expose the unbiblical notions people have concerning “love,” and attempt to reprogram the reader’s mind to think about this subject Scripturally, I expect someone will begin to feel sorry for my wife, or say, “I’m sure glad I’m not married to you.” But I proceed, because of a deep conviction that misunderstanding about love is at the heart of most relational problems.